Poker

The term poker today has more or less become synonymous with the term online poker or internet poker as it is widely abbreviated by new players of the popular card game; Due to the ongoing and rising popularity of the game online it is only reasonable for more and more poker rooms to be making their appearance on the internet; now of course online poker rooms vary in relation to features and offerings as the majority are powered by different software providers which each give weight to different features which they consider important. Below you can find a synopsis of the most trustworthy online poker rooms with details regarding their sign up bonus offer and a unique poker bonus code for each respective card room entry which will guarantee that you claim a lucrative and exclusive bankroll booster upon sign up. Each entry is also accompanied with details regarding the acceptance of poker players with permanent residence in the USA and a respective link which will lead you to the comprehensive and in depth review prepared by our editors explaining the various elements including hits and losses which will help you get a clear understanding of where to play based on your game play, your level, your country of residency, your preferred method of debiting and crediting your account and other important elements which add up to what we call online poker entertainment.

Poker History

Poker is a family of card games that often share the same rules and very often use the same hand ranking; the popularity of the card game among internet users first evolved at a very introductory stage when WSOP legend Mike “The Mad Genius of Poker” Caro launched the first ever internet poker room back in 1998, “Planet Poker”. The popularity of the game back in the day was at a very embryonic stage with very few users attempting to try internet poker as the internet as an entity was a new product to most countries and in many cases expensive to use; in addition internet speed was limited to dial up connections and in very few locations excluding the US, were users enabled to experience faster connections enhanced by ISDN connections; this in reality was a major obstacle to marketing the internet poker product as low internet speed caused jams, games pausing, players losing their share of the action and an audience becoming reluctant to try the game online.

Over the following 2 years an explosive development of internet in both terms of awareness and quality of service was achieved; which was when Paradise Poker made its appearance. The year 2000 was in reality the perfect timing to launch as an increasing share of the public was starting to experience the power of the world wide web which was a boosting factor to the rapid and unbelievable success Paradise Poker experienced when it launched operations. Realistically Paradise was a forward thinking entity with a breakthrough design, innovative features, excellent withdrawing and depositing options which all added up to internet poker becoming synonymous with “Paradise Poker”. This breaking growth continued to climb until it evened out slightly in late 2000 early 2001 when Isai Sceinberg “a former IBM head programmer” and his 2 sons launched a self built poker software running under the name PokerStars. It was obvious that the online poker industry was developing to big business as more and more companies were showing increasing interest in developing poker games online.

The software developed by Sceinberg had great accepatance by an increasing audience of poker players that were turning to online poker for both pleasure and challenge. Soon players started to realize that they were enabled to play with opponents from across the world making the challenge an unbelievable niche for internet poker rooms. The product did not even need heavy advertising as news were spreading rapidly, with more players attempting to try this new form of online entertainment every day. The concept perceived by Mike Caro was taking off and The Mad Genius of Poker had not taken it serious enough to move to the next level as obviously he did not realize the potential of the product online.

Although Caro was the innovator he seemed to had been left behind when the concept moved in to the Growth Stage. During the same period a million dollar budget backed up from a Jewish Polish business woman Ruth Parasol and her Indian computer programmer partner Anurag Dikshit gave birth to what we today know as Party Poker. Parasol who diverted from a family owned audiotex business, which provided horoscope, tarot, trivia, chat and adult services over the telephone was initially endorsed in the online casino business trading on the name Party Casino. She had recruited Diskshit in her initial online casino operations back in 1998 as a programmer taking the task of developing proprietor casino software which would release her as a software licensee from her previous software provider who had the task of providing Party Casino with the software. Dikshit proved to be talented, useful and very much business oriented so Parasol had awarded him shares of her entity. The business mind of Parasol, her money oriented character and the skills of Dikshit gave birth in late 2000 early 2001 to Party Poker.

The international poker scene was governed by 2 major brands, PokerStars and Party Poker leaving innovators behind. Party Poker was the leader back in the day and growth sustained as soon internet speed developed. The development of the world wide web and its potential enabled Dikshit to monitor the forward thinking development of a poker platform which was allowing unlimited poker players to compete online. In 2003 PokerStars decided to host a qualifier for an all inclusive seat to the 2003 WSOP with a buy in of $40. The man we know today as the legend of Online Poker “Chris MoneyMaker” had won the seat, and he had attended the WSOP leaving the final table $2.5 million wealthier. This was the moment online poker exploded; the dream of becoming a millionaire became closer to young talented poker players and soon stats and traffic to online poker room where increasing on an exploding pace.

PokerStars was getting closer to Party Poker and the battle of leadership was coming closer. During the same time more and more poker rooms were opening their doors to online poker players as more and more players were attempting to try what we know today as poker online. The growth continued and the battle of leadership sustained with more major poker rooms joining the action until 2006; when the United States Congress passed in action a gambling enforcement act known as the UIGEA which came to change the history of online poker. The detailed legislation and how it has affected internet poker can be found under the US poker room section on luckyroom.com. Players can find the poker rooms which have chosen to continue accepting US players in a comprehensive list comparing sign up bonuses and main features.